Visual schedule app for kids: picture routines with timers

Quick answer: A visual schedule shows a child each step of a routine as a picture, in order. In Routinius the current step fills most of the screen with a large animated picture, its name and a timer bar; finished steps shrink to small chips at the top, and the next few steps wait below in their own colours.

What your child sees

Each routine (for example Morning) is a stack of bold colour blocks:

• Now: the step happening right now. A large picture in a white circle (the toothbrush scrubs, the shirt drops on, the backpack hops), the step’s name in big letters, and, if you gave the step a time, a bar that shrinks as the minutes pass.
• Done: steps your child has finished, shown as small crossed-out chips at the top, so they can see how far they’ve come.
• Next: up to three upcoming steps underneath, each with its picture and how many minutes it usually takes.

When your child taps Done, the picture does a little celebration bounce, a soft chime plays, and the next step slides up. Routinius can also read each step aloud as it starts, which helps children who can’t read yet. The screen stays awake for the whole routine.

Setting up a routine

You build routines in a grown-up screen behind a quick multiplication question, so a curious child can’t rearrange the morning:

1. Press and hold a routine on the home screen and choose Edit, or tap New routine.
2. Name it, pick Morning, Daytime or Bedtime, and optionally add an end time (Out at 7:45, Lights out 8:00).
3. Add steps. For each one, choose a name, one of 20 solid pictures, a colour, and a time from 0 to 60 minutes. A step with no time simply waits until your child taps Done.
4. Drag steps to reorder them. Save.

With Pro you can use your own photo for any step and record your own voice saying it (“Time to brush your teeth!”), which plays when the step starts.

Built for small hands

• Pictures are solid shapes, not thin outlines, so they’re recognisable from across the room.
• Closing a running routine takes a press-and-hold, not a tap.
• The animations switch off automatically when iPhone’s Reduce Motion setting is on.
• To keep a child inside the app, use iPhone’s Guided Access; our Guided Access guide shows how.

If you’d rather start on paper, our guide on how to make a visual schedule covers both.